How do u control your emotion???

Guys,,,

Please share your emotion measure to contain greed/fear or self-srew up trades!!!!

I have been trying hard to cool off myself for quite some times now,,but once in a while I will lost my balance and it costs me dearly...

Sonic

I just screw myself up... while "not following my set up""..set up shows it is LONG and the entry time passed///needa wait another entry....

So, I have SHORT instead and it hits SL within few minutes..I p1ssed, and I added another short...and hit SL again..and finally I turn LONG and open entry...trade flip and drop back... Now I am holding my LONG in red...


http://www.forexfactory.com/attachme...1&d=1225331651

Sonic

Stop making the shit trades would be a good start.

Look at your stats and examine if your greed or fear is effecting your performance. If trades are reversing back on you often and eating away your profits then consider taking profits out earlier. If you are taking out trades early and they are running away then grow a pair and leave them running longer. Your past experiences should dictate your future behaviour. Analyse your own performance and make alterations in response to your findings. Logging every trade, good and bad will allow you to do this. If you're just shooting from the hip on emotion then you cannot expect to get better, because frankly, you do not deserve to.


PS. revenge is a dish best served cold. You'll only get your money back if you keep a cool head, so if you can't do this after taking a loss then quit trading for a while until you can.

hi sonicdeejay, you sounded to me as if you were trading at will. cos you add to positions, change from short to long etc. are your actions spelt out in your trading plan?

to get over emotions, you can try the following (at least it works for me):

1. look for a trading system (with clear and concise entry signals, profit target and stop loss)
2. a detail trading plan
3. trade that same system for at least 3 months and record your trade results (with charts) religiously

a trading system allows me to set pending orders and turn away from the charts. when i stare at the charts for too long, i see stars!

I already have a trading systems that doing well, most of t times...if u follow it religiously...It works so well until my blood will boil once I had a lost postion...thar trigger the strings of more loss...

Ya..I see stars just now too...bad for the traders...

The problem I have is lack the patience....

"Meditation may be the answer for me"

Sonic

You MUST learn to sit down at your computer and leave your ego, and feelings outside. This is probably the most difficult thing to do but is absolutely essential.

Assuming your method of trading has at least a 60% edge over the market then take every trading signal that comes along and then take every exit signal that comes along. Do not "reverse" directions unless your trading method shows you to do that.

If you don't know what your method's edge is...that is where you start. Backtest it and KNOW its accuracy. If (as your name suggests) you trade trends, you well know that NO trend reverses itself within a day's time.

Make a trading plan based on your method of trading. Do it when you are NOT trading. Know with certainty the following things:
1) What market conditions constitute an entry
2) What market conditions constitute an exit
3) Where will the stops/limits be place for each entry
4) Risking no more than 2% of your position, how many lots can you employ using your stop/limit plan.
5) What will you do if you enter and the market immediately turns against you?

Answer these questions in WRITING. Once you've done that you've made the basic elements for a trading plan. WRITE YOUR TRADING PLAN DOWN.

Now armed with your trading plan start trading a demo account. Make the demo account the same size as your live account. Don't trade with $100,000 if you only have $1,000 to trade with. Promise yourself that you will NOT trade your live account until you have made your $1,000 demo account into $10,000. Yes this seems extreme, but you will understand once you start doing it.

Make all your mistakes on the demo. and LEARN from them. Now when you start to feel anxious or nervous about a trade, refer to your written trading plan to tell you what to do. If the situation you face is not in your trading plan...stop trading...exit your trade...and add this new condition to your plan. As you go along pretty much any condition that comes along will be addressed by your trading plan.

If you stick to your promise of increasing your demo to $10,000, by that time you will have confidence and consistency to start a live $1,000 account. And to top it all off you won't have lost a dime.

The market reveals who we really are. If you find you are getting angry very easily, for instance, then you need to work on the underlying reasons for this hidden anger in your life. By this, I don't mean that the reason you're angry is because you keep making losses. That's a symptom of a deeper reason. Perhaps, you were betrayed by someone in the past and you see this betrayal when the market changes direction which causes you to revenge trade.

welcome to the "Jungle" Timmy! There are many drugs to assist in controlling emotion. The last one will be poverty if u dont get a handle on tapping out of trade. Its a commen problem with no one right answer.Good luck.

This is a good question.

I trade unleveraged with money that although I will miss it if it is gone (after all, I worked really hard to make it), I dont need it to survive. I think emotions are a problem very often because people have $5,000 in their account and they are trying to make it into $35,000 by the time the year is out. Control greed? Quite easy. If you have $5,000 and you shoot for what consistent returns the greatest traders in the world make (30%), that isnt enough money to be greedy about. It is a slow process. You may get lucky (see tdion ), with 50:1 or 100:1 leverage, though probability is you wont.

It is so true there is no one answer to the art of control ones emotions in fact there has been volumes written on the subject. But the basic truth is you will never make money when making financial decisions based on emotions. All financial decisions must be based on logic cold hard facts. If A+B+C is happening do D. People don't plan to fail they just fail to plan.
You need to set a your own personal trading plan. Plan your trades and trade your plan.The first step to setting up a good plan is to work out your tolerance to risk this will give you your money management policy. Money management policy needs to be worked not on how you want to win but on how much you can comfortably afford to lose.
Even though we are talking about emotions here, there are other things that needs to be considered, things like the tool kit you are using, what charts are you using what time frame are you trading on and what indicates do you have up on your charts? Because if your are using indicates like moving averages or MACD you have to take into consideration that these are all trailing indicators they only show what has happened no what is happening and if you are relying on these to give you direction then by the time they show you it is generally to late and you are left second guessing the market and chasing price,bang in come the emotional decisions out goes your money. Past performance is no indication of future results.

A ball-peen hammer.

When I screw up by going against my trading rules I pick up the hammer and give myself a solid rap in the forehead. It usually knocks me out for hours which is great because it's stopped my revenge trading.

Try it, but make sure you get a very good hammer. I broke the first two cheap ones. I now have a Stanley and it hasn't let me down in years.

You received very good pieces of advice from gurus. However, I want to ask just one question- Why the hell you trade at a level that gets you into emotions in first place? If your method is good, as most methods are, there will be countless opportunities to collect more pips than you lose. This market guarantees opportunities to those who want to make ocean collecting drop by drop. But do we listen to market?

I suppose the emotions are very important in trading like understanding money managment, the sistem of indicators etc..

There are two types of traders Hunters or Gatherers
Hunters stork the market they trade like a spear fishermen they stand in the middle of the river with their back to the current throw burley over their shoulder and try to stab the fish as to float by.

Gatherers set traps and net the profits

Which type of trader are you?
the Stats show that 95% of traders never maker any sort of real money trading currency they are the Hunters.

Fantastic...

That is a great metafor! With your permission I'd like to extend that metafor that we might all learn.

It is historically accurate that nature made two types of people, hunters and gatherers. Typically these two people lived together in a symbiotic relationship so that both might survive. The gatherers while seemingly more productive at times, would starve through a winter without sufficient a stock pile of provisions provided by the hunter. Likewise, the hunter would also starve while patiently stalking his next kill, if he didn't have the provisions provided by the gatherer.

There is a great deal to be said about one who patiently stalks and waits for just the right moment to bring down his prey...one shot, one kill. And just as important the gatherer can keep an entire family (or village) going on just the daily work of putting berries in a basket one at a time.

Nature put these two types of people together for their mutually assured survival and prosperity. We can take that lesson, learn from it and apply it to the markets as well.

We need to develop TWO types of trading methods that make up ONE trading style. First, the idea of gathering small profits day by day makes sense and keeps you going through out the "summer" of each trading season. But as we all know, there are also times when good trades are hard to find and a "winter" of bad trading can threaten a trader's survival. Thus we should always be alert to and ready for that "big kill", that could sustain us through the lean times.

Treat each trade as if it was "the big one". Trade small mulitple positions, and "gather" your berries when small targets are hit. Then if/when the remaining portion of your position continues, adjust your stops to "capture" the larger profits that could make the difference in your survival during the lean times.

NONE of this can be done however, without a good plan, or the fortitude to stick to the plan. Emotions always play a part. But having something to refer to as a guide, and the commitment to stick to your guide is what separates the 5% from the 95%. NOT your trading style.

Trading with "your back to the current" is one method of accomplishing the task. It works for some. However, the big difference in the survival rate is how to stay focused and keep your personal feeling out of the "work" enviroment.

As the famous song says, "...never count your money, when your sitting at the table...there'll be time enough for counting...when the dealing's done." In other words, don't get emotional by couting your losses or wins in the middle of the game...stay focused.

By the way, is Sonic DJ even reading this anymore?

One fine example..

Sonic

Huh, just my opinion, but I would say "Yes".

considering the last post that is.

Actually there are 3.
The third being Hunter/Gatherer.

Be Prepared to be either at any given point in time.

Hi Sonic,

I havn't read all the replies so have no idea if others have already said this, but here goes..


From your original post you sound like your going through the exact same thing we all do in this business. Your Chasing the market after you take a loss, its the same for all of us.
I say to myself, " my analysis was perfect, it must have been my stop was too tight. Ill try again." and again... You get the picture

Sure at times it can be an incorrectly placed stop or whatever. But most of the time it will be an analysis error. And its hard as hell to admit that once you have decided that it is a good setup.
After all, good setups don't linger around they move. I go with the 3 strikes and i forget the setup rule.

Dont judge your performance by recent trades (good or bad). Add up your pips at the end of the week/month and then you can decide if you need to make a change in your strategy.


And Lastly, its true that patience is a part of this game. And to be honest i have very little patience, so make sure your plan is written in stone. And stick to a 2% risk rule.
There are many different systems out there, some suit people with patience , while other systems suit ppl with little patience. Make sure your strategy is right for you. Otherwise it will be a struggle to make it work.

Show me 1 person who can make millions using any system,
and ill show you 10 others who fail with the same system.

Patrino